Thursday, December 25, 2008

Happy Holidays! Well, for Everybody, BUT Watchmen Fans...

Hello all! So, on this happy holidays, a U.S. Judge decided to give us all the worst present ever...Thanks to /film for the horrible news...

United States District Court judge Gary A. Feess has a horrible Christmas present for Watchmen fans. The judge concluded on Wednesday that 20th Century Fox “should prevail on crucial issues” in their lawsuit with Warner Bros over the rights to the comic book movie adaptation. According to the New York Times, Feess says that “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture” and that “The parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review.” The trial had been scheduled for January.

You’re probably wondering what this decision means to you, the eager movie ticket buyer. Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a lawyer, but this is what I have gathered from the various legal articles I have consumed over the last few months. To start, it means that Warner Bros likely has no rights to distribute a film based on the Watchmen graphic novel. They could appeal this ruling and continue to fight, what is appearing to seem like an unwinnable battle, or start negotiating with Fox on some sort of settlement.

The talks will likely result in a deal that will give Fox co-distribution rights to the film, or even full rights to the motion picture. It seems doubtful that Fox would squash the release of the film altogether, but from what I understand, that possibility exists. Making a deal with Warner Bros could be a dangerous precedent for the company to make to make in terms of copyright ownership.

That said, I would be surprised if a deal doesn’t go down. Also, I would be surprised if Watchmen keeps it’s March release date. There will be a lot more to this story, and we will keep you updated as the news comes in.

FML. I totally expect a HUGE deal to go down, but if not, look for the Watchmen film to be completely squashed. A deal should go down soon, so expect more updates on this story here as they come in. Happy Holidays!!!

About Me

I am 22 years old and I am attending Grand Valley State University for Journalism, and I am looking to get into the film industry. While I am not a film student, I do know a little about what it takes to make a good film. I am a self taught movie student. Kind of like the Tarantino of movie critics.